The present invention relates to an automatic teller machine.
In automatic teller machines used in financial institutions, at least one means for verifying a bank note is mounted which makes decisions about the denomination, counterfeit or genuine, and fitness of the note received. In recent years, many cases of counterfeit notes have been reported, and therefore it has become imperative to improve the accuracy of classification of counterfeit and genuine notes, above all else. However, if one tries to securely reject elaborate counterfeit notes, a percentage of genuine notes being rejected increases due to sensor fluctuation, fluctuation of transport condition or the like, which has been a problem.
Meanwhile, high-speed process is important in automatic teller machines. Since customers must wait while the transaction process is underway, high-speed process leads to an improvement in service. However, to this end, it is necessary to shorten verification time and increase transportation speed. Since high speed and high verification accuracy are not compatible, another problem is that when high speed in process is pursued, the incidence of genuine notes being rejected increases.
As prior art to solve the problem of the increasing number of rejects, there is a method of re-verifying the rejected ones of notes received, as disclosed in, for example, JP-A-10-302112. In this equipment using this method, when a rejected note occurs at the time of a money receiving transaction, the note in question is transferred at low speed to re-verify it, by which the problem of the rising proportion of rejects by a greater fluctuation in transportation attributable to high-speed transportation can be solved.
There is another conventional method using a bill validator of a two-stage structure, as disclosed in JP-A-1-41085. In this method, verification is carried out in a device at the first stage, and those notes which have not been verified for reasons of the note being likely to be a counterfeit or abnormality in transportation are sent to the second-stage verification unit. In this second stage, a detailed process of counterfeit/genuine classification is carried out using the bill validator in a manner to assist classification by humans thereby improving the accuracy of classification.
In the technology described in Patent Document 1, however, when a note received is rejected, it has been necessary to execute re-verification during a transaction. Even if rejected notes account for a small proportion of notes received by the ATM, they definitely increase the transaction time by the length of time for re-verification. The technology set out in JP-A-1-41085 was intended for use in a large-scale bill verification equipment. Because the second-stage bill validator was an auxiliary unit for man-operated classification of counterfeits and genuine notes, this device could not be applied to automatic teller machines installed in banking facilities.